Gun sellers get bang out of Black Friday
NEW YORK• Black Friday was a blockbuster for the U.S. gun industry.
While no exact count of firearms sold in America exists, a common barometer is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This year, the FBI said it received just over 203,000 requests on the mega shopping day, up from 185,713 last year and twice as many as in 2008.
This spike comes during a lull for the firearms industry. In past years, sales predictably increased after mass shootings. But the killing of almost 60 concertgoers in Las Vegas Oct. 1 failed to light the usual fire under gun enthusiasts fearful of new regulations, or of being unarmed in future shootings. The combination of a Republican president and Congress may be helping to dissipate the usual knee-jerk reaction, according to an analysis of background check data by Bloomberg. In fact, after last year’s election, stocks of gun companies sank: American Outdoor Brands Corp., formerly Smith & Wesson, has seen a double-digit stock decline since the election.
Black Friday background checks in each of the past three years outdid Dec. 21, 2012, once the biggest ever day for guns as shoppers rushed for firearms in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 20 young children were mowed down.
Helping to drum up sales in the face of this new reality, retailers this year turned Black Friday into a gun-buying bonanza by offering deep discounts.
Outdoors retailer Cabela’s held a doorbuster gun sale this weekend, with deals including US$ 400 off Seekins Precision scoped rifles and US$300 off Benelli shotguns. You could buy a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifle and get a US$50 Cabela’s gift card. The chain even gave away Browning pump-action shotguns and Ruger pistols to some shoppers who managed to land a spot at the front of the line Friday morning.
Bass Pro Shops promised “instant savings on guns” for anyone using an outdoor rewards MasterCard to buy a firearm. Its Black Friday sale highlighted Savage youth single-shot rifles in brown or pink, and offered parents a free wood frame with in-store Santa photos alongside a sale for Remington bolt- action rifles and reflex sights.
Dick’s, meanwhile, boasted “all firearms on sale.” Spend US$1,000 and knock US$100 off the price, or pick an item with a mail-in rebate to score a deal on a new shotgun. Ammunition boxes were buy one, get one 50 per cent off, though limited to 10 per customer.